K. Flay

[LADY SOC] A hyper-productive, universally beloved hip-hop adept whose technical facility and blistering flow won passionate devotees within the underground rap community, it’s tempting to describe K. Flay as the alternate-universe Kreayshawn. But that would imply just the sort of gimmicky connotations the unassuming, defiantly dressed-down former Kristine Flaherty has taken pains to avoid ever since trading her Stanford sociology degree for a beatcraft apprenticeship. If anything, her autobiographical musings have drawn considerably less attention than the muscular work ethic that brought about so many releases between 2004 debut Suburban Rap Queen and recent mixtape West Ghost. Absent electro collaborators (like Prodigy’s Liam Howlett) or indie samples (the XX or the Decemberists, notably), she tends toward coldly sparse self-production bolstering dominant lyrical themes of over-aware alienation that only really diminish mid-concert as, beats constructed and audience enthralled, she indulges a richly deserved swag.